sleeper

sleep·er

1. One that sleeps: a heavy sleeper who was not wakened by the burglar.

2. A sleeping car.

3. often sleepers Children's pajamas, usually with legs that cover the feet.

4.

a. One that achieves unexpected recognition or success, as a racehorse or movie.

b. A spy or saboteur who is planted in an enemy country and who lives unobtrusively as a citizen of that country until activated into clandestine operations by a prearranged signal.

5. A horizontal structural member on or near the ground that supports weight.

6. Chiefly British A railroad crosstie.

7. Any of various chiefly tropical fishes of the family Eleotridae of fresh, brackish, and shallow marine waters, resembling the gobies but without fused pelvic fins and noted for their habit of lying immobile.

sleeper

(ˈsliːpə)

n

1. a person, animal, or thing that sleeps

2. (Railways) a railway sleeping car or compartment

3. (Railways) Brit one of the blocks supporting the rails on a railway track. US and Canadian equivalent: tie

4. (Building) a heavy timber beam, esp one that is laid horizontally on the ground

5. (Jewellery) chieflyBrit a small plain gold circle worn in a pierced ear lobe to prevent the hole from closing up

6. (Wrestling) a wrestling hold in which a wrestler presses the sides of his opponent's neck, causing him to pass out

7. (Agriculture) US an unbranded calf

8. (Animals) Also called: sleeper goby any gobioid fish of the family Eleotridae, of brackish or fresh tropical waters, resembling the gobies but lacking a ventral sucker

9. informal a person or thing that achieves unexpected success after an initial period of obscurity

10. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) a spy planted in advance for future use, but not currently active

sleep•er

(ˈsli pər)

n.

1. a person or thing that sleeps.

2. a heavy horizontal timber for distributing loads.

3.

a. any long wooden, metal, or stone piece lying horizontally, as a sill or footing.

b. any of a number of wooden pieces, laid upon the ground or upon masonry or concrete, to which floorboards are nailed.

sleeper - a spy or saboteur or terrorist planted in an enemy country who lives there as a law-abiding citizen until activated by a prearranged signal

act of terrorism, terrorism, terrorist act - the calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear

sleeper nest - a nest of sleepers awaiting a prearranged signal; "sleeper nests of Islamic terrorists were capable of launching major attacks in Europe"

spy, undercover agent - (military) a secret agent hired by a state to obtain information about its enemies or by a business to obtain industrial secrets from competitors

terrorist - a radical who employs terror as a political weapon; usually organizes with other terrorists in small cells; often uses religion as a cover for terrorist activities

3.

sleeper - an unexpected achiever of success; "the winner was a true sleeper--no one expected him to get it"

achiever, succeeder, winner, success - a person with a record of successes; "his son would never be the achiever that his father was"; "only winners need apply"; "if you want to be a success you have to dress like a success"

4.

sleeper - one of the cross braces that support the rails on a railway track; "the British call a railroad tie a sleeper"

sleeper - an unexpected hit; "that movie was the sleeper of the summer"

hit, smasher, smash, bang, strike - a conspicuous success; "that song was his first hit and marked the beginning of his career"; "that new Broadway show is a real smasher"; "the party went with a bang"

sleeper

[ˈsliːpər]n

(= person) → dormeur/euse m/fto be a good sleeperHer first baby was not a good sleeper → Son premier bébédormaitmal.to be a light sleeper → avoir le sommeillégerI'm a light sleeper → J'ai le sommeilléger.

As it was, miserably and helplessly, not half himself, a puppet dreamer in a half-nightmare, he knew, as a restless sleeper awakening between vexing dreams, that he was being transported head-downward out of the canoe house that stank of death, through the village that was only less noisome, and up a path under lofty, wide-spreading trees that were beginning languidly to stir with the first breathings of the morning wind.

Satisfied at length, not only of the condition but of the character of the stranger, Mahtoree was in the act of withdrawing his head, when a slight movement of the sleeper announced the symptoms of reviving consciousness.

And when they run over a man that is walking in his sleep, a supernumerary sleeper in the wrong position, and wake him up, they suddenly stop the cars, and make a hue and cry about it, as if this were an exception.

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